The Car Meet and Greet brings together EC’s car enthusiasts

The Car Meet and Greet was held on March 15 at the Green Spine Parking Lot in Education City. The event was organized by Omar Al Sharif, a senior at Texas A&M University at Qatar. Students from all over EC participated in the event to show off their cars and connect with other car enthusiasts.

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“We wanted to create an event where members of the automotive community can just get together casually and share their love of cars,” Al Sharif said.

The event was attended by about 30 students from Education City. “I don’t even like cars but it was very interesting to learn more about them and hang out with friends,” said Amal Barakat (left), a freshman at Northwestern University in Qatar. “I think we should have more events like these because they introduce car enthusiasts to each other,” said Omar Khodr (right), a sophomore at TAMUQ and owner of the German BMW E46 M3.

Khodr’s car is close to 14 years old but still in excellent condition. The car still has its original naturally aspirated straight-six engine. “The engine is the best part about this car because of how powerful it is and how wonderful it sounds,” he said.

Khodr gave an extensive tour of his car to other students attending the event. “I think this is one of the finest cars ever made and I could talk about it forever,” he said. Khodr has spent countless hours over the past year personally calibrating any component that can be tuned.

“I bought this car without even test driving it,” said Ahmad Abdalaziz, owner of the BMW M2. He said it has not disappointed him since. “It’s compact but insanely powerful,” he said.

This car is a 1980's Toyota Sprinter Trueno. It has been modified extensively to make it suitable for track racing. One such modification is the roll cage, visible in orange, that prevents the roof from collapsing if the car rolls over.

This is the Lexus RC F. It competes with both Mercedez and BMW in the Gran Turismo range. Lexus has increasingly been trying to move away from the Sedan, a vehicle type with four passenger doors and a lift gate at the rear, to luxury sports cars. “This model is pushing Lexus’ design into the space age,” Al Sharif said. He said that the design of the RC F is unique like a spaceship.

The event also had a booth from Northwestern University in Qatar’s Not Another Film Club. NAFC club members asked trivia questions and gave out gift cards to winner. “It made sense to collaborate with NAFC since cars have a fairly long and interesting history in film, spanning many decades and multiple genres,” Al Sharif said.

A panel of TAMUQ judges gave each car a score out of 10. The victory of the the Car Meet and Greet automobile competition 2018 went to Khodr’s BMW E46 M3.